44 Yevalone ~Leviathan

I think it was safe to say that we were all pretty much devastated. At least, the three of us who actually knew him. Lykfilia was comforting Reyna who was having a minor breakdown, while Lucifer and Demyx just awkwardly stood by. Cortana left with Stradivarius- Athuriel? almost immediately.

I looked up into the sky, watching it grow darker by the minute, the low sounds of thunder rumbling in the distance. I felt the first drops of rain start to fall, the first rain of the winter. I could've sworn the weather had gotten colder, but that might've also been the depressed mood mixed with the sorrow. I turned back to the group.

"So." I started, breaking the silence carefully. "Where do we go from here?"

Nobody said a word.

"I mean, we've got a war to prepare for, haven't we?" I continued talking, even though I was pretty sure none of them were listening. "I'd say we need to go to other places, explain the situations and hope the angels haven't reached them first. " I looked around me, they were all staring back, listening intently. I shrunk back, I hadn't been expecting that kind of reaction from them, considering what had just happened. Lucifer was the first to notice this, so he seized the moment and spoke to us.

"Fellow warriors. We cannot let this incident, no matter how tragic, get in the way of our goal. That will only lead to failure, and we don't want that, do we?" he started. His words were confident, as if he was used to speak to entire legions of soldiers. After all, he wasn't one of the strongest warriors in Araycien's history for nothing, even though according to legend, he betrayed his fellow angels and that is why he was cast to the Void; Raziel's futile attempt to get rid of him for eternity. Lucifer responded to that action by staying true to his words and ways, coming back as the Void's leader. Of course, Raziel has yet to face him in battle after all this time, so I doubt he even knows about it.

After we'd considered his words for a second, Reyna was the next to speak.

"That is true. We cannot let his- Sirius' noble sacrifice- go to waste. We may have bought ourselves at least two days of time to travel without having to worry about Cortana. We do have the trouble of the demons that may still be after us, but I have reason to believe that they are no longer a problem, or at least, not a threat to us specifically."

I nodded. "As true as that might be, we still can't let our guard down. My father's soldiers could be anywhere, waiting on the right time to strike. As well as you, Reyna. Your gift of prophecy is valuable to any side of this war, In fact, a single line from you could change the outcome of this battle." I looked to Lucifer who nodded at me as if he already knew what I was thinking about.

"I propose we split ways." I said. "We need someone to get a insider's view on the situation on Mizeareigh, and we also need to take Reyna somewhere safe until she learns to control the damned thing."

My brother, Zachriel, stepped forward from where he was standing. "Well, we might have a little issue with that then."

"What do you mean?" I asked in return. I didn't see a flaw in my half- plan, but I might be overlooking something as usual.

"We can't send just anyone to Mizeareigh you know."

Ah. Right. Of course that's what he was referring to.

"Leviathan, you're supposed to be dead, I've technically betrayed them, Tempest would almost immediately sense Lucifer as soon as he stepped past the border, and we very well can't send Lykfilia." he explained. Demyx, who had been silent for a long time, finally decided to speak up.

"I have an idea." he started. "What if Zachriel and I go to Mizeareigh?"

"Well-" Zachriel tried to protest, but Demyx waved him off, continuing his reasoning.

"I'm technically human, yes, but I'm also a part of the Ludevicus family. Technically they can't throw me out again, but, they might throw me in prison, I don't know yet. And Zachriel, for the lord's sake, what's the worst they're gonna do? You're Argo's son. There isn't much they can do."

Zachriel sighed in defeat. "Fine. Let's just hope we don't run into my father or any of his team. Then we're dead for sure." He went to stand by Demyx.

"I take it the rest of you are going to Yevalone then?" he asked me.

"Yevalone?" Lykfilia questioned.

"Oh! Right, you two probably don't know where or what that is." I cleared my throat. "Yevalone is the new, partially underground vampire city. "

Lykfilia nodded. "Oh. That's nice." she replied, trying to sound sincere, but it didn't quite work.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "I know you prefer to stay above ground in the daylight, but if we're underground then there's less of a chance we'll be discovered. " I paused, looking at Lucifer for confirmation. "And besides, the vampires are known for their absolute control over powers, talents, bloodlusts and whatnot. There should be someone there that can help you, Reyna."

Lucifer nodded. "Yevalone is probably the safest place right now, as the vampires tend to stay out of battles and feuds between other races. And the fact that not a lot of people know where they relocated." He turned to us. "So let me get this straight, Demyx and Zachriel go to Mizeareigh to gather information about the demons' battle plans, I help you guys to Yevalone and then I must go to the Void again. I've been away for too long, and especially in a time like this, I cannot stay away for too long. "

I nodded. "I understand that. I think we'll be fine in Yeva for a while, or at least until the first call of battle."

"Can I say something?" Lykfilia asked us.

"Yes, of course." Reyna and I replied in a chorus.

"Well," She cleared her throat. "I think we'd better go to Thatchstone too, just to check in, y'know? We need to know what they have and have not been told about the situation." Lykfilia trailed off, looking down at the ground.

All of us looked at each other, silently approving her suggestion.

"So, you'll go to Yevalone, do what you need to do, then get the vampires to send you along the way to Thatchstone?" Zachriel asked.

"Sounds about right." I replied. He nodded, then turned to face the rest of the group.

"We'll be off then, come along now, Lynchfield."

Demyx waved a farewell before taking off after Zachriel, who was already quite some distance away.

"So," Reyna started. "Shall we go?"

"I guess so." Lykfilia replied.

Lucifer had by then stepped away from the group, pressing his hands together into a seal. Black smoke started to slowly emit from his fingers, gathering in front of him, forming a gateway.

Once the gate had settled into a steady swirl, he gestured at it. "Well," he started. "that's ready. How many of you have actually been to Yevalone before?" he asked us.

I was the only one who raised my hand.

Lucifer looked straight to me. "Right. Of course, I should have expected Leviathan to be the only one who's actually been there. So that leaves Lykfilia and Reyna. " he paused, looking to the portal. "Lykfilia, hold on to Leviathan, Reyna, you come with me. As I already told you, I can't make portals that work for just anyone, you have to have already been there before. " he sighed. "Which sucks, but it gets the job done most of the time."

Reyna reluctantly took his hand before he stepped through, giving a small wave to us before disappearing through the gateway in front of us.

I turned to Lykfilia, who looked like she was about to pass out at any second.

"You okay?" I asked her. She nodded, rubbing at her arms.

"Just cold." she said. "It's very cold."

I looked up into the sky, clouds slowly closing over the moon, that was unusually bright, almost as if it was charged with electricity.

"A storm is coming." I said, then looked at her. "All we can do is be prepared for it. It won't do us any good to look only at the bright side anymore, we've got to be prepared to face the worst."

"I just wish she was still with us, you know? She'd know what to do. She always knows exactly what to do." Lykfilia said, her voice almost breaking.

I instantly knew who she was talking about, even though she didn't say any names.

"Yeah..." I replied. "She would. But she'd also punch me in the face, tell me to man up and charge to my death." I laughed. "But nevertheless, we've got to go. We need to do everything that we can, if we want to have even the slightest chance of getting her back, you know?"

"Yeah." Lykfilia then grabbed my hand, pulling me through the gateway with her.

The gateway was as dark as it had been the first time around, a swirling mess of ice cold fire and shadows. Once we got through, we found ourselves back-to-back with Reyna and Lucifer in a circle with various blades pointed at us. I heard a voice in the distance shouting, "Captain! The two others are here, just like you said!"

Oh no. This is bad.

"Hey Lucifer?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Don't you think we should have maybe, just maybe, sent a fire message ahead of us?"

He fell silent, contemplating what I'd just said.

"Well-" he started. "That could have been a smart thing to do."

I groaned. This was absolutely the last thing we needed right now. However, I couldn't finish thinking about what we'd do about the current situation, as someone else had arrived.

"Well, I applaud your quick work with capturing them, but you didn't really have to, you know." the person sighed. "Man, why can't you be this efficient when we're in actual danger?"

The voice was familiar, but I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. However, I felt Lucifer let his guard down for a second before he spoke.

"Ah, hello there, Archon. Been quite a while, hasn't it?"

So that's why the voice sounded familiar. I'd met him several times back on Mizeareigh, I had no idea he was a vampire.

"You're supposed to be dead. You were dead." he replied.

"Oh come on, is that how you greet a friend?" Lucifer joked.

Archon stepped into the little circle, gesturing to the soldiers to lower their weapons.

"You were never considered a friend, you know that, right?" he said. "All rivalry aside, you must be here for a reason. What do you want now?"

"We need your assistance with a simple thing. Well, not really simple, but you guys are best equipped with this I'd think. "

Archon sighed. "What do you need."

Lucifer gestured to Reyna, who was now next to Lykfilia, lending her her jacket against the cold.

"She's the child with the gift of prophecy. We need your help to teach her how to control that, she's like a leaky water pipe."

Archon nodded, thinking about it. "And you are sure it's her?" he asked.

"As sure as I was about the boy, Arden."

Archon looked around, doing a headcount. "That reminds, where is that boy now? I thought he was with you."

We all looked down to the ground.

Lucifer cleared his throat. "Well. Uh, you see- there was a....minor inconvenience before we got here..."

"Oh dear, what did you do, Dianthus? What did you do?!" he half-shouted at him, his eyes flashing red.

"Well, technically the problem is not what I did, per se, but more what-"

Archon cut him off. "Just get on with it!"

"He's dead." My head snapped around. It was Reyna who had said it.

"What."

"He challenged Cortana to a duel to give us a chance to escape. He, obviously, did not win." she replied.

"Oh well, that's...unfortunate."

We all nodded in unison.

"Well. We should probably get you to the one person that knows something about fortune telling. She's Yevalone's leader, Valerie Fowler."

Again, that familiar feeling in my mind. Where have I heard that name before? It feels like a core memory of my past, yet so distant.

I followed Archon and the others mindlessly through the streets of Yevalone, all the way to the headquarters. We went inside despite the obvious protests of the guards, then went up a spiral staircase, all the way up the top. Once we were at the top, Archon lead us down the corridor to the far end, to an office. He knocked on the door, a specific pattern, like morse code or something similar.

"Come in." A voice from the inside called out to us. "How many of you are there?"

"Five, milady." Archon replied.

There was a noise of confusion from the inside. "Well, bring them in."

Archon turned to us, opening the door.

"Ah, Archon. What can I do for you- get out. Now." they said.

Archon looked confused. Then, the person shook their head. "Not you, Fowler. The demon lord. Out of my sight, Lucifer Hector Dianthus, bringer of Chaos, strife and death. You who conquered the darkness and are venom to a pure soul, get out of this building this instant."

Lucifer, who'd barely even entered the room, promptly exited, gesturing for me to follow him.

"I have to go back to the Void anyways. War preparations must be done. Hope everything goes to plan, send me a fire message once you're done in Thatchstone. Then we can go over the plan again and act accordingly." He then dispersed into smoke, right there in the hallway.

I went back inside. The other three just stood there, silent as the grave, all staring at me, then back at Lady Valerie.

"What?" I asked, genuinely curious what was happening.

"Say, Leviathan....." Lykfilia asked me, intently staring at me, almost as if she was inspecting something. "You're half vampire, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Look at Lady Valerie for a minute, really look at each other."

So I did. At first, I didn't know what she was going on about, but I soon came to realize it. It was like looking into a mirror, that's what it was. Horns and gender aside, she had a similar facial structure, that permanently determined look on her face, and those deep green eyes that I never understood where had come from. She smiled lightly.

"That's one hell of a perceptive girl you've got yourself, Leviathan." she said to me.

There was something so natural about that sentence, like every worry just faded away and I was somewhere safe and sound, away from the upcoming war and all problems. Then it hit me. The voice, the name, everything. It all came back to me at once-

"Mother!?"